Nick Guagenti beat 61 entries in the 2022 Poker Masters high-stakes event to win $186,000 at ARIA Resort & Casino's PokerGO Studio. The Ohio native received the PokerGO Tour title in the $10,000 buy-in eight-game mix tournament, and it was the third biggest score in his professional poker career.
The victory comes after he won $305,433 in the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online $2,000 no-limit hold 'em tournament and $259,533 after finishing third in the 2019 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. tournament. The Hendon Mob shows that he has over $2 million in poker tournament earnings.
Besides winning the cash prize and title, Guagenti amassed 360 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points, being his first POY-qualified score this year. Still, he garnered 186 PokerGO Tour points that improved his position in the Poker Master Purple Jacket race to sixth place.
The Final Table's Payouts and Points
- Nick Guagenti – $186,000; 360 POY points and 186 PGT points
- Cary Katz – $124,000;300 POY points and 124 PGT points
- Ben Diebold – $86,800;240 POY points and 87 PGT points
- Steve Zolotow – $62,000;180 POY points and 62 PGT points
- Alexander Livingston – $49,600;150 POY points and 50 PGT points
- Jacky Wang – $37,200;120 POY points and 37 PGT points
- Brian Rast – $31,000;90 POY points and 31 PGT points
- MJ Gonzales – $24,800;60 POY points and 25 PGT points
Action at the Final Table
The remaining nine players in the tournament earned money. Andrew Brown (bracelet champion) and MJ Gonzales (high-stakes pro) cashed but got busted on Day 1.
Cary Katz had the chip lead early in the final day, while Guagenti was second. Brian Rast was the first player to leave the event after using A-Q to get a short stack in preflop in a no-limit hold 'em round. Yet, he faced Alex Livingston's pocket tens and lost the flip, thus finishing seventh with $31,000.
Jacky Wang followed Rast after losing most of his stack when he used a split pair of aces to move all-in in a seven-card stud. Livingston and Katz came along. But the former used fifth street to improve to queens and aces as he left Wang in a tricky position.
Wang landed a blank on the sixth street and drew dead, thus finishing sixth with $37,200. It was his third time reaching a final table in the series, and he has earned over $135,000 from it so far.
Livingston had the largest stack when five-handed action kicked off. Yet, he was the next player to leave the table.
The player lost a huge pot with two pair and an open-ended straight flush draw against Katz's jack-high flush draw and flopped the nut straight. The river and turn didn't help Livingston. His stack drastically reduced to less than six big blinds as Katz got the chip lead.
Livingston went all-in in a triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball, and he staked more chips in a one-card 8-6-5-4 draw.
Guagenti held 8-7-6-2 as he isolated with a raise. Livingston patted and made a 9-8 after the draw, while Guagenti opted to draw two cards and break after making a 9-8-7. The move helped him make 7-6-5-3-2 after picking a three and a five.
The players patted, and Livingston finished fifth with $49,600. Steve Zolotow had the least chips before four-handed action started. Unfortunately, his stack reduced to a single ante, and he lost a seven-card stud hand.
Katz used a pair of kings having Q-9 kickers to defeat "Ben Diebold's" pair of kings with Q-8 kickers. Zolotow finished fourth with $62,000 as Diebold had the least chips. The latter finished third with $86,000 after 2Diamond Suit on the river, and JDiamond Suit on the turn failed to help him.
A heads-up battle between Katz and Guagenti. The former held 6,050,000 chips, while the latter had 3,250,000 chips. Guagenti reduced the gap after doubling up a stud eight-or-better hand.
Yet, he got another double-up after his nut flush draw, and overpair of aces beat Katz's flopped set of fours. Katz used JHeart SuitJDiamond Suit10Heart Suit8Club Suit in pot-limit Omaha to make a 250,000 raise on the button, while Guagenti placed a 750,000 three-bet using AHeart SuitAClub SuitQHeart Suit2Heart Suit. Katz finished second with $124,000 as Guagenti won the title.
